A Year in the Life of... Chapter 2

After the fitting had been done and they were once more on the road he considered how weird that experience had been. When they had first entered the building Ibrahim had taken the tailor to one side and appeared to be giving him instructions of some kind. The tailor had looked him up and down, smiled to himself and then nodded to Ibrahim. The tailor had then taken the measurements, pretty much everything that could be measured had been. He was quiet throughout, occasionally speaking to give him directions such as "Could you lift your arm please sir." and "No, the other one please." Perhaps one of the strangest things was that the tailor had been taking all these measurements down on a pad and he couldn't help but notice that the tailor had marked him down as having a forty inch chest when he was a thirty six...if that. He'd always been kind of slender, not much muscle but not weedy either...well not much, not exactly. And so what if he had small feet, that didn't mean anything, it's not like it's a crime he thought...or was it? The government would nick you for anything nowadays. And then they were off again, making their way through the tired, grey streets of London, bound for God knows where.

He must have dozed off at some point because he awoke to the sound of the car door being opened, Ibrahim standing once again and waiting for him to exit the vehicle. Giving Ibrahim a smile and once again mumbling "Thank you." he got out of the car and looked at the building in front of him. It was very large and very grand, what he could see of it. It reminded him of those country manors you see in all the period dramas, Downton Abbey and whatnot. He turned around and looked down the driveway but was unable to see the end of it, looking out over perhaps hundreds of acres of land, a skeletal forest to his right, just visible through the rapidly dwindling light and encroaching mist. He gave Ibrahim another smile and allowed himself to be escorted into the building, into a huge hallway from which rose a wide staircase, portraits hanging from the high walls. Ibrahim took him straight upstairs and showed him to a room.